Automatic weft-replenishing mechanism for looms



Jan. I, 1924 1,479,720

J. LEWTAS ET AL AUTOMATIC WEFT REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS FiledJune 18, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventors J. L,e l vtans EbCBlac/flaurstJan. 1, 1924 J. LEWTAS ET AL AUTOMATIC WEFT RBPLENISHING MECHANISM FORLOOMS Filed June 18, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 1, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES LEWTAS AND ERNEST HENRY BLACKHURST, 0F PRESTON, ENGLAND, AS-

SIGNORS TO THE WHITTAKER LOOM COMPANY, LIMITED, OF PRESTON, LANCASTER,

ENGLAND.

AUTOMATIC WEFT-REPLENISHING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

Application filed June 18, 1923. Serial No. 646,206.

To all 10710721, it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES LEWTAS and ERNEST HENRY BLAonHURsr, bothsubjects of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and both residing atYard orks, Stanley Street, Preston, in the county of Lancaster, En land,have invented certain new and use ul Improvements Relating to AutomaticlVeft-Replenishing Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to automatic weft replenishing mechanism forlooms for weavin of the kind in which a feeler is provi ed for bringinginto operation the weft replenishing mechanism, said feeler beingadapted to enter an aperture in the shuttle box as the latter movesforward with the lay and so contact with the 00p of yarn in the shuttleand to be moved thereby a gradually decreasing amount as the yarnbecomes more and more used but sufficient to maintain the weftreplenishing mechanism out of action until at a predetermined degree ofexhaustion of the yarn the movement of the feeler is insufficient forthe above purpose and the weft replenishing mechanism comes intooperation.

The object of the present invention is to devise improvements inconnection with automatic weft replenishing mechanism of the abovecharacter and the invention con sists in the combination in automaticweft replenishing looms of the kind referred to of a rod or like membermovable with the weft fork hammer and adapted to actuate the weftreplenishing mechanism and a feeler adapted to allow of co-operationbetween the rod and the weft replenishing mechanism.

The invention also consists in other de tails hereinafter pointed out inthe claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one mode of carrying out theinvention Figures 1 and 1 show a plan illustrating one convenientarrangement of apparatus in accordance with the invention, the line A-Brepresenting the inner edge of the breast beam of the loom;

Figure 2 is a side view on a somewhat larger scale of a detail shown inFigure 1;

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are respectivel a front elevation, side elevation andplan 0 a safety device to prevent the operation of the weftreplenishingmechanism in the event of the shuttlefailing to enter the shuttle box;

Figure 6 shows in plan view a detail of a modification hereinafterreferred to.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, a indicates a loom shuttlecontaining a pirn or spindle b upon which the weft is normally situated,the limiting peripheral lines of the cop being indicated by the brokenlines in Figure l; c is a known feeler device which is shown capable oflongitudinal motion against a spring a which normally tends to keep thefeeler o in its innermost position (that is, towards the shuttle) andpivoted to said feeler device is a bell-crank lever 03 pivoted at (Z ona bracket on the loom framing or breast beam and connected at d with arod or like member 6 engaging the usual weft fork hammer f provided inconjunction with the weft fork 9 forming the usual weft stop mechanism.Adjacent the end of the rod 0 is an arm or lever 7t rigidly secured upona shaft or spindle i which is mounted in substantially parallelrelationship with the line AB and upon which is arranged a lever kadapted to co operate with a pin or projection Z secured to what isknown as the swivel of the automatic weft replenishing mechanism. Theswivel is mounted on the shaft of the trans ferrer which acts to push afull cop from the magazine into the shuttle when the weft is to bereplenished and is formed with a pin or projection which, when theswivel is rotated as above described, is brought into the path of ahunter on the lay and the swivel is thereby rotated and the weftreplenishing mechanism is actuated.

From the above description it will be seen that during the normaloperation of the loom the usual to-and-fro movement of the weft forkhammer 7 will impart a like movement to the free end of the rod or likemember a.

The relative positions and movements of the parts so far described aresuch that prior to beat up of the weft at the fell of the cloth thefoeler c is moved to its innermost position by the spring 6 whichpresses upon a collar attached to the shank of the feeler or isotherwise suitably arranged for the purpose. In such position the outerend of the rod or like member 6 projects across the path of the arm orlever h but as the lay approaches the breast beam during the beat up,the cop of yarn in the shuttle comes into contact with the feelcr o andmoves the same again; the action of the spring, 0, in such ltlll amanner as-to 11love thearodiorililie member a to the left as'viewed in iigure 1 so that when the rod or member is moved by the weft fork hammerinto the position shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1 the rod 0 doesnot engage the arm or lever h and the latter is therefore unafieete'd bythe movement of the member a.

It will be evident, however, thatas the yann is giaduall exhausted inthe shuttle the amount of movement of the hacker 1': will become lessand lessnntil at a' redetermined degree of exhaustion of the teeler themovement will notbe suiiicient to move the member 1? out of thepath ofthe arm or lever it so that the latterwill be rocked by the forwardmovement ofthe'menrber e thus rocking the shaft i and causingthe lever7.: to engage the pin Z in such a manner as to D erate the'wei'treplenishing mechanism in t .e manner above described to introduce afresh cop into the shuttle to take the place of that which has becomeexhausted.

The arm or lever 7L is made of considerable area as is indicated inFigure 2 so thatwhen the free end 'of the member 6 is not in therequisiteposition forenga'ging with the edge of'the member "it there isno danger of any accidental engagement since any longitudinal movementof e wiil then result in its free endstriking thebr'oad face of themember 71.

Since the operation ofthe weft replenishingmechanism is due to aninsuiiieient amount of movement given to the trader r it will. beevident that means must be provided for preventing the operation oi theweft replenishing mechanism in the event of the shuttle failing toenterthe shuttle box since .in thea'bsence of such sa'iety device the eelerinihe circumstances referred to would not be moved to thecxtentnccessary to maintain the weft replenishing mechanism out ofaction. Figures 3 to 5 therefore illustrate a form of safety devicewhich is provided in accordance with the invention and in which m is amember slidably mounted in a supporting bracket 11 attached to a part ofthe loom framing, the member m carrying or being formed with an inclinedor wedge shaped part 0 adapted to bear against a depending lever p whichin the form shown is othook formation and which is pivoted at 11 uponthe bracket 1? and is controlled by the spring 1) The. shaft 1' providedwith a iixcd projection g somewhat inclined. as shown in Figure Thearrangement is such that if the shuttle fails to enter the shuttle boxthe nose or some part of the shuttle engages and operates the slidingmember or thus moving the meiriber 7) into the position shown dotted inFigure 4 so that the end of the member p engages the projection (I insuch a manner as toimove the same round slightly in a countenolookwisedirection in also somewhat rotated andith-e armor lever 11 is therebymoved more across the path of the member 6 and. thus the weftreplenishing mechanism is prevented from being operated.

Means may be provided for locking the parts when the starting lever ofthe loom is moved into position for stopping the loom; thus in Figure (3(see also Figure l} the member r rigidly projecting "From the member r.is capable oi being engaged by a twoarmed lever f when the startinglever n is in the osition for stopping the loom.

\Yith the lever s t pivoted at r at or about the breast beam ottho loom,and I; being connected to a spring 10 attached .at it." to said beam itis obvious that on the movement of u in the direction of the arrow linefor starting the loom the lever arm 3 will be pulled away fromengagement with the member 1* thus allowing the 'meniher r and with itthe .nicmber a to'move in the manner required for the operation of theparts.

Claims:

1. in an automatic weft replenishing loom of the kind described,thecombination with a weft fork hammer and a weft replenishing mechanismactuating element, of a rod like member movable with and extendingthrough said hammer and adapted to actuate the element when the yarn hasbeen exhausted to a predetermined point and a feeler connected to saidrod like member and adapted to allow the actuation oi the weftreplenishing mechanism element said member.

2. In a mechanism of 't hekind described, a i'eeler adapted to engagethe yarn on a shuttle. a. spring for normally forcing the said fee lerin one direction, a bell crank lever connected to said feeler andactuated by the latter. a rod like member mnneeted to said he'll cranklever. a weft iorlrhannner connected to rand actuating said rod likemember, a. shaft. an arm mounted on said shaft and adapted to be engagedby said rod "like member. and a weft replenishing mechanism actuatingmember connected to said shaft and adapted to be moved "by the latterwhen the arm is actuated by said rod like member. i

3. A uu-rhanism as claimed in claim 2 in which the arm has a relativelybroad surface arranged in a plane perpendicular to the axis of saidshaft and adapted toaet n abutment to engage the end of the rod likemember. for preventing the latter from actuating the arm until the rodlike member is in proper position to engage said arm.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

JAMES liEVVTAS. WEST H ENRY "BLACIEHURST.

